GENTARO

[Grimmas]

Jetlag said: "One of the most unique juniors of the last 2 decades. An incredibly athletic wrestler, whose love for new generation era WWF and knack for technical moves makes him stand out. He can do it all, from Bret Hart worshipping technical wrestling, to garbage brawling, to highflying, to working hard hitting puro epics, to being an excellent Anderson bros style heel. Has some of the best broadways of the modern era under his belt, against a variety of unique opponents, and yet to disappoint in any setting. I think a deep dive of him is well worthwhile considering he has worked an incredible number of different places in the last 20 years."

Matches:

2/3 Falls: GENTARO vs. Masamune, VKF 9/23/2008

GENTARO vs. Spark Aoki, Secret Base 1/10/2011

Tanomusaku Toba & MIKAMI vs. GENTARO & YOSHIYA (DDT 11/30/2001)

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[Ma Stump Puller]

been randomly searching out GENTARO content and yeah I'd agree with Jetlag wholeheartedly, he's a super versatile worker. One video has him doing sleazy indies as a weird Shawn Michaels/Bret Hart composite (even down to doing the Sweet Chin Music for a finish) the next will have him do a 30 minute technical epic a few years later as if there's no difference between the two. The man is somewhat deranged in that regard, but there's no denying his talent. 

 

[Jetlag]

He has racked up a number of technical epics in the last couple years, in part thanks to the promotion known as MUTOHA, since that is their signature style and they were gracious to make a lot of footage available that was hidden in storage for over a decade, but also in a number of other promotions whenever they let him do stuff. The 60 minute match he had with Arai is insane, and possibly a greater 60 minute long technical epic than almost anything from the classical era, which is pretty crazy.

Other notable GENTARO matches:

vs El Samurai, FREEDOMS 9/27/2009

vs Osamu Nishimura, VKF 11/16/2015

vs Akira Jo, Mutoha 7/7/2024

vs Dekai Ichimotsu, 4/15/2018

vs Yasushi Sato, Mutoha 3/19/2022

vs Hiroshi Watanabe 5/30/2009

vs Yuki Ishikawa, Batos Cafe 2/23/2020

vs Kazuhiro Tamura, Mr. Gannosuke Produce 3/31/2011

vs Kenichiro Arai, Masamune Produce 6/19/2022

Obviously the times are on his side, with him making tape often and even smalltime performances like the match against Ichimotsu being uploaded by generous providers, but it's hard to deny that his resume stacks up extremely well even against top tier wrestlers. It's a really impressive reinvention when you consider he transformed into the technical master only after suffering a stroke and has been a very different but also great wrestler up until that point.

[Ma Stump Puller]

I had GENTARO at #38 and I am at present contented with that choice. GENTARO is a marvelous talent that has I think two separate but interconnected sides to his career; you have his early to mid-stage career where he was a Bret/Shawn generation guy to an almost obnoxious degree (even down to doing the Michaels pose for his entrance and his old finisher LITERALLY being the Sweet Chin Music) but was nevertheless a very capable jr heavyweight who could pull off some really fun shindie matches with a whole host of different characters and had some really wacky spots in his pocket. The second half is him working a far more grounded technical wrestler who was more comfortable building to moments on the mat as opposed to high spots; this version picking more from NWA-style grindy matwork, more honed in around momentum changes and attacking limbs.

In terms of style on the surface there's a big change for sure, but I think for the most part GENTARO retains in both a great sense of psychology. He really gets how to build to something, make the slower elements of the match feel more worthwhile by always adding in little counters or attempts at them, or by just selling the danger of any hold he himself ends up in. There's something to be said about the fact that he's happily having solid TV-length matches in the undercard for the last couple of years with the occasional technical epic when he probably could have been content doing a whole lot less at his age.